Copyright Jeff Rice and the Acoustic Atlas at Montana State University. Audio file courtesy of the Acoustic Atlas at Montana State University (www.acousticatlas.org)

General Description

White-tailed prairie dogs are medium-sized squirrel-like rodents. Adults weigh around 500-1000 grams; males are about 36 centimeters long and females 31 centimeters long (Foresman 2012). Legs are short and feet have well developed claws for digging. The tail is short and flattened with a whitish tip. The back is a yellowish-buff mixed with black that becomes lighter on the belly. Distinctive brownish-black patches are present above the eyes and on the cheeks.

Diagnostic Characteristics

Distinguished from the only other prairie dog found in Montana, the black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus), by its smaller size and white-tipped tail (Foresman 2012).

(Observations spanning multiple months or years are excluded from time charts)

Migration

White-tailed prairie dogs are non-migratory. Juveniles disperse to other colonies or the periphery of their natal colony in September/October.

Habitat

Throughout their range, white-tailed prairie dogs inhabit xeric sites with mixed stands of shrubs and grasses. In Montana they inhabit these habitats dominated by two types of vegetation: areas with Gardener's saltbush (Atriplex gardneri) with lesser amounts of big sage, and areas with small-flowered marsh-elder (Iva axillaris) and winterfat (Krascheninnikovia lanata)(Flath and Paulick 1979). They live at higher elevations and in meadows with more diverse grass and herb cover than do black-tailed prairie dogs (Wilson and Ruff 1999) although their range in Montana is at relatively lower elevations than other areas across their distribution (Foresman 2012).

Ecological Systems Associated with this Species

Details on Creation and Suggested Uses and Limitations

How Associations Were Made
We associated the use and habitat quality (common or occasional) of each of the 82 ecological systems mapped in Montana for
vertebrate animal species that regularly breed, overwinter, or migrate through the state by:

Evaluating structural characteristics and distribution of each ecological system relative to the species' range and habitat requirements;

Examining the observation records for each species in the state-wide point observation database associated with each ecological system;

Calculating the percentage of observations associated with each ecological system relative to the percent of Montana covered by each ecological system to get a measure of "observations versus availability of habitat".

Species that breed in Montana were only evaluated for breeding habitat use, species that only overwinter in Montana were only evaluated for overwintering habitat use, and species that only migrate through Montana were only evaluated for migratory habitat use.
In general, species were listed as associated with an ecological system if structural characteristics of used habitat documented in the literature were present in the ecological system or large numbers of point observations were associated with the ecological system.
However, species were not listed as associated with an ecological system if there was no support in the literature for use of structural characteristics in an ecological system, even if point observations were associated with that system.
Common versus occasional association with an ecological system was assigned based on the degree to which the structural characteristics of an ecological system matched the preferred structural habitat characteristics for each species as represented in scientific literature.
The percentage of observations associated with each ecological system relative to the percent of Montana covered by each ecological system was also used to guide assignment of common versus occasional association.
If you have any questions or comments on species associations with ecological systems, please contact the Montana Natural Heritage Program's Senior Zoologist.

Suggested Uses and Limitations
Species associations with ecological systems should be used to generate potential lists of species that may occupy broader landscapes for the purposes of landscape-level planning.
These potential lists of species should not be used in place of documented occurrences of species (this information can be requested at: http://mtnhp.org/requests/default.asp) or systematic surveys for species and evaluations of habitat at a local site level by trained biologists.
Users of this information should be aware that the land cover data used to generate species associations is based on imagery from the late 1990s and early 2000s and was only intended to be used at broader landscape scales.
Land cover mapping accuracy is particularly problematic when the systems occur as small patches or where the land cover types have been altered over the past decade.
Thus, particular caution should be used when using the associations in assessments of smaller areas (e.g., evaluations of public land survey sections).
Finally, although a species may be associated with a particular ecological system within its known geographic range, portions of that ecological system may occur outside of the species' known geographic range.

Maxell, B.A. 2000. Management of Montana's amphibians: a review of factors that may present a risk to population viability and accounts on the identification, distribution, taxonomy, habitat use, natural history, and the status and conservation of individual species. Report to U.S. Forest Service Region 1. Missoula, MT: Wildlife Biology Program, University of Montana. 161 p.

White-tailed prairie dogs feed primarily on forbs. Early spring diets in Colorado showed white-tailed prairie dogs fed heavily on sagebrush and saltbush, with a shift towards dandelions and goosefoot as these forbs became available (Foresman 2012). Food habits in Montana are probably similar.

Ecology

Colonies in Montana average 54 acres. They do not clip vegetation like black-tailed prairie dogs. Maternity burrows are extensively excavated and can be identified by the presence of current accessory digging (Flath 1978, 1979).

Reproductive Characteristics

No specific reproductive information is available for Montana, however in other parts of their range breeding occurs shortly after female emergence from hibernation in late March and early April (Clark et al. 1971). Gestation requires about 30 days and young are born in late April and early May. Litter sizes range from 2 to 8 and average around 5 young (Flath 1979). One litter is produced annually. Juveniles appear above ground in early June, 5 to 7 weeks after birth. Both sexes breed as 1-year-olds.

On December 4, 2017, after a thorough review of the best-available scientific and commercial information, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released a 12-month finding that the species is not warranted for listing under the Endangered Species Act at this time because it is not currently in danger of extinction and is not likely to become in danger of extinction within the foreseeable future (USFWS 2017).

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 2017. Endangered and threatened wildlife and plants; 12-month findings on petitions to list four species as Endangered or Threatened Species. Federal Register 82(233): 57562-57565.

King. J. A. 1955. Social behaivor, social organization, and population dynamics in a black-tailed prairie dog town in the Black Hills of South Dakota. University of Michigan, Contributions from the Laboratory of Vertebrate Biology 67:1-123.

Citation for data on this website:White-tailed Prairie Dog — Cynomys leucurus. Montana Field Guide. Montana Natural Heritage Program and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Retrieved on May 24, 2018, from http://FieldGuide.mt.gov/speciesDetail.aspx?elcode=AMAFB06020